Yesterday’s announcement by Attorney General Merrick Garland was that the Department of Justice sought to unseal the search warrant, which led to the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago in Florida. This raid occurred at the request of former President Donald Trump. An earlier report indicated that Trump’s sensitive papers were the subject of the search.
After Garland’s press conference hours later, The Washington Post Agents seized material related to nuclear weapons, according to reports. Experts described the documents as classified and “extremely sensitive” to limit access to government officials.
Trump criticised the PostThe report was described as a “hoax”, just like Russia, Russia or Russia.
The afternoon will be spent at the Wall Street Journal It reported that investigators had examined documents related to raid. Investigators removed 20 boxes containing 11 sets classified documents. Fox News confirmed that the Fox News report was based upon its review of the documents. The actual contents of these documents were not available to either outlet.
The records allege that Trump had a large number of documents, including those classified as top secret by the government, and those that were designated as sensitive compartmented information (SCI). These documents are meant to only be viewed or stored in government-designed facilities. The search warrant authorized investigators to search “the 45 Office” and “all storage rooms and all other rooms or areas within the premises…in which boxes or documents could be stored,” excluding any areas Trump or his staff would not frequent, like guest rooms. Investigators went to Mar-a-Lago in January to inspect the area Trump had stored documents. They advised Trump to purchase a stronger padlock and to subpoena surveillance footage.
Breitbart NewsIn its report on the search documents,, stated that Attachment B to warrant delineates three statutes under which agents seek evidence. These are 18 U.S.C. § § 793, 2071, and 1519.” Notably, 18 US Code § 793 is the statute of the Espionage Act under which National Security Agency contractor Reality Winner was charged for sharing a single document, of public importance, with news outlet The Intercept. Winner was eventually sentenced for five years federal prison. He received early release in the last year. Winner appealed unsuccessfully to Trump during his presidency for clemency.
PoliticoNoting that Republicans are spending the week protecting Trump, it is causing divisions among their ranks. Many in the party’s leadership still stand behind Trump and are likely to be his nominee for 2024, but some worry about potential security issues if highly sensitive information is stored at a resort. This was even before Trump became president.